The CT report reads, again, "Grade 1 anterolisthesis at the L4-5." That's a familiar skeletal observation, and seemed insignificant so I never bothered to analyze it other than knowing it meant some back issues. But curiosity reigned and today I googled to find out it means that the 4th lumbar vertebra has slipped forward in relation to the 5th lumbar vertebra. Severity is graded 1-4, with Grade 1 involving less than 25% of the vertebra, considered mild degeneration.
No surprise there, we all seem to suffer from some degree of backache nowadays. But it wasn't always so. I think I know when the slippage occurred. One day way back when my youngest child was a baby, I put him in his crib and went to lay a blanket over him when it happened--such a sudden and agonizing pain in my lower back that I felt immobilized. The pain persisted, unlike anything experienced up to that time, and I despaired that I would, in essence, be paralyzed. And who would care for the baby! After a few days confined to the couch,I was able to drive to the Leonard Hospital and X-rays diagnosed a herniated disc and I was told to see an orthopedist. I was able to keep an appointment with the go-to orthopedist of the day, Dr, Paish. His office, as I recall, was in Lansingburg, on that short street behind the Sunset Inn, 3rd Street, maybe.
The treatment was an injection, probably cortisone, but I paid no attention to that stuff back then. I only remember that there was no pre-injection anesthetic applied, the needle seemed about a foot long, and it felt like my back was being nailed to the table. And in the tradition of Dr. Paish, his first words after the shot was administered were, "Now that wasn't so bad, was it?"
I recovered, with what I suppose was the beginning of the skeletal degeneration. Dr. Paish was fairly new to the area at the time, and was considered a somewhat offbeat doctor. He told me that his son wanted to get a motorcycle, but he said before that happened, he would break the kid's legs himself. Orthopedists are all too familiar with motorcycle accidents. I trusted him, despite his personal eccentricities because he had been recommended to us by Dr. Grattan to treat M's congenital hip problem, that being that her legs were too straight from her pre-birth position and thus were likely to pop out of her hip sockets. Dr. Paish treated and resolved that issue, to Dr. Grattan's satisfaction.
Some years later, another encounter with Dr. Paish. Dave had been playing hide and seek with toddlers M.and D. in the driveway, ducking around the car, when suddenly and painfully, his knee failed to function. He actually crawled into the house, his leg rigid, completely unable to bend his knee. So following an appointment, Dr. Paish ordered him to go to the hospital for surgery the next morning. (Things worked that way back in the 70's: almost always you were admitted to the hospital the night before surgery.) Don offered to drive him to the E.R., St. Mary's this time. I drove the kids to Ma's and drove through the snow with Dave, Don and Barbara. But on arrival, we all went into the hospital and Dave chickened out, saying he didn't want surgery based on a single medical opinion. So back home we all went, through the snow and by-now slippery roads.
The next morning, Dr. Paish called: "Where the Hell are you?" and advising, with a few stronger choice words, that if he didn't get to the hospital in 24 hours it would be too late and he wouldn't do the surgery. So, knowing he had 24 hours to get another opinion, Dave got an appointment with a chiropractor in Albany. I drove him there, not easy to get him in and out of the car as his leg was stuck straight out in front of him. The chiropractor took one look at him and his outstretched immovable leg, and said no , he wouldn't even touch him, get to the hospital for surgery.
So we drove to the hospital in the window of time. Dr. Paish operated on his knee, with success. Dave was a terrible patient, but that's another story. (I've killed enough time so Spelling Bee will be available. Good night and Good morning.
lansingburg
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